Chapter 3

The night carried on until early hours in the morning. Hana had never been a big drinker but didn't have to drink to have a good time. Through the night, she talked with other companions and ended up dancing with Farkas, who nearly crushing her. She just laughed so much through the night that she had almost forgotten what had happened in the past days.

While sitting down for a breather, she noticed Vilkas sitting in the corner observing the state in which his fellow Companions had grown to. He looked more relaxed than what he was earlier and with less war paint covering his eyes. Those silver eyes of his were almost entrancing. When she was younger she remembered running amuck with the two twins getting into all sorts of trouble from pick pocketing others to just annoying the guards. So much had changed since she had returned back to Skyrim.

The tremble from the table as Farkas sat down awoke Hana from her train of thought. Hana looked over her shoulder and saw Farkas with a grin planted on his face. She noticed that Farkas's hair was a mess and that his black war paint had come off.

"It's so nice to see you again Hana. How long are you staying for?" Farkas slurred. Obvious someone had too much to drink.

"I plan on staying for as long as possible hopefully." She commented with a smile. She ended up talking to Farkas for a good hour, while having a slight glance over his shoulder to see Vilkas staring at them. Only to have her look away, she didn't understand why he was glaring at her again.

"Sorry to say Farkas but I'm heading back to the inn for the night." Hana said as she stretched her arms in front of her. As she begun to stand up, Farkas pulled her back down on the seat next to him and drew her close to him. "Can't you stay a little bit longer?" He purred.

"Nay, sorry Farkas, will be back tomorrow though." She chimed. He pulled her closer toward and his head nearing her. Hana knew what Farkas was wanting to do and just laughed. She pulled her finger up to his lip and laugh. "Not tonight big fella." He too laughed in return and let her go.

She bent down and gave Farkas a small peck on the cheek. "Goodnight Farkas," she said over her shoulder as she walked to the door. She looked over at Vilkas who had just witnessed the whole thing. "Goodnight Vilkas, prepare have your ass flat on the ground tomorrow." She smirked and walked out into the cold air.

0o0

'How dare she think that she can just walk into the companions, expect to be accepted and then start something with my damned brother!' Vilkas stormed down the stairs towards his room, passing Ria, the imperial whelp not much older than 17, who he just scowled at and kept walking. He reached his room and slammed his door. He trudged over to his bed and grabbed his book, but he just couldn't focus.

In his rampage, he threw his book across the room, not bothering if he ruined it or not. The wolf inside threatened to make an appearance as he tried to calm himself. 'If she thinks that she can do that while I'm here, she has another thing coming for her!'

0o0

Hana stirred from her sleep and looked around. No light shone through the gaps in the roof or window, indicating it was still dark. Getting changed into her armour that she traded for and equipped her new weapons she reached for her steel war axe and an iron shield. Her best combination. Hana was never the one for light armour and heavy weapons. She liked being as agile as she could in her heavy armour. When she opened her door in the inn, there was a drunken Nord lying next to the fire pit. She chuckled to herself and crept as quietly as she could to outside.

As she opened the door, she was thankful that she had been wearing her armour. It was freezing outside and any damned soul outside was bound to get sick from this weather. Hana looked around and saw a small child sleeping on a worn bench nearby. Her face was pure under the grim and dirt that covered her. Obviously the child had no home in Whiterun. Hana rushed back inside and brought out her pelt and gently placed it over the sleeping child. Hana could only feel sorry for the child. She wrote a note for the kid 'Keep it'.

She started up the steps towards Jorvaskrr. For once there was dead silence around the hall and decided it probably wouldn't be wise to head inside so she went up to the skyforge. The view from the forge was beautiful. As she had her back to the lava pit, she took in the stars that were thrown across the sky. It must have been four in the morning and no one would be up so why not get some time to herself. She jumped up from rock to rock on the skyforge and managed to climb to one of the highest points.

The view was so much better from up here and could see everything. The small braziers that lit up the streets to War maidens. Seeking her chance, she grabbed out her journal and piece of charcoal on a stick she always carried with her and started sketching. She didn't know how long she was up there for but once she was fully basked in light by the time people manged to escape Jorvaskrr. She had charcoal smudged on her face from drawing.

Hana looked down and saw Torvar stumbling down the stairs towards the Arcadias Cauldron, probably to get something for his hangover. She chuckled to herself and stretched. As she started to make her way off the rocks, she heard voices below.

"Argh. What happened last night?" 'Definitely Farkas' she thought

"I'll tell you what happened. If Hana hadn't known what you were going to do, you would have bedded her." A low grumbling voice echoed off the stone. 'Hell, Vilkas. You think I'm that stupid.' Hana was so close to laughing and giving away her position. She slowly crept down to the smaller rocks and hid behind them to hear what the twins were bickering about.

"I'm only staying up here until Eorland comes and give him my sword then I'm leaving." Vilkas stated.

"Hey Vilkas, do you remember much of Hana from when we were kids?" Farkas randomly asked.

"Aye but not much. All I can remember was that she a likeable lass at times and others I wanted to pummel her into the cobbled road."

"Aye, I those memories are pretty hazy." Farkas paused for few moments and shuffled from one foot to another. "Hey do you reckon she would be any good in bed?" Farkas raised his eyebrow at Vilkas.

"Like hell I would know what she would be like you skeever brain!"

That was the last straw. In fits of laughter, Hana hopped down from where she was.

"I dunno know Farkas, maybe you should ask," she manage.

"How long were you up there for woman!?" Vilkas shouted at her.

"Long enough to hear your entire conversation." She giggled. She walked over to Vilkas and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hope you don't get your hopes up for this morning lad." And with that she started walking down the stairs. "Oh and Farkas, there are two ways to find out. Experience it yourself or ask someone that has!" After yelling back at Farkas, she ran the rest of the way back to Jorvaskrr smiling like an idiot.

"That damned woman." Vilkas growled. Looking over at Farkas that was also trying to supress a laughing fit as well. Vilkas rolled his silver eyes and walked down the stairs towards the hall. A disgusted look was on his face as he walked through the doors of the hall and saw Aela sitting with Hana, filling the room with laughter. Vilkas glanced at Hana only to catch her staring right back, she whispered something to Aela and she just grinned. Hana left by the time Vilkas made it to the table with Aela.

"I like that one." Aela grinned. "Has a sharp tongue on her and a bit over herself, but a gorgeous lass."

"You right about one thing, Aela." He glanced across the room to see his brother talking to Hana. He only rolled his eyes and looked back at the huntress. "That tongue of hers is going to get her into trouble."

"I'm with you there." A stern voice from behind interrupted. He turned around to see Lockan with an amused grin on his face. "She hasn't changed one bit since she was a young lass, and hopefully someone can teach her a lesson this morning."

"Aye and I plan on it." Vilkas stated at Lockan. "She is so full of herself that she thinks that she can best me. Good luck with that whelp."

That earned a light-hearted laugh from Lockan and winked "Distract her with something, and while she isn't focusing, wipe her feet out from beneath her."

0o0

The time had come for the match against Vilkas and Hana. He was already waiting for her when she reach the back patio of the hall. Everyone started peeling outside to watch the match go down. She was about to grab her axe out was interrupted by Kodlak whom had his arms crossed "We aren't killing anyone today so stick with wooden weapons of your choice. The one who wins is when someone asks to stop or is on the ground. Good luck Hana."

She nodded and placed her weapons down and went and grabbed a wooden war axe and a worn shield. She stalked across the yard and stopped a few feet from Vilkas. The usual scowl he wore on his face was facing her. "You take first swing." He retorted and braced for the onslaught. In a split second she was in front of him bringing her axe up about to hit his shoulder. Vilkas threw his shield up and pushed her away. What would normally be her green eyes were now replaced eyes with fury and adrenaline.

The fight increased for a solid five minutes without her or Vilkas showing any signs of fatigue. Hana was getting careless and swinging without focus. Vilkas blocked most of her attacks but he did himself get a few blows from her.

She was about to swing again but realised that Vilkas was distracted by Farkas yelling and had stumbled. She twisted around him, making sure she didn't get tangled up with her legs. She was right behind him when Vilkas spun around. Before he could swing his sword in his left hand, she threw a blow to the back of his knees in the gap of his armour. He stumbled down for a few seconds only just managing to block her onslaught of attacks. With a grunt, he got up, and he was finally getting sick of this behaviour.

He remembered what Hana's brother had said and tried it. He charged at her with his wooden sword in front. She was so focused on the sword that she blocked it but didn't see his shield coming in from behind causing her to lose her guard and stumble back. Vilkas got close enough to the stumbling Nord and kicked her feet from beneath her.

She landed on the ground with a thud and was held there by the point of Vilkas's sword. Her eyes travelled up from the point of the sword to his eyes. His eyes that were once grey were now cluded with silver specks. With heavy breathing, he managed to speak. "What was it that you said, that I would be on my arse? Careful your cockiness doesn't get the better of you." His hair was clinging to the sides of his face from the sweat and his knee was aching. He pulled his sword away and offered a shaky hand out for Hana to grab.

She hesitated for a few moments before she took his hand and smiled. "Guess I should have seen that coming," she giggled. He only rolled his eyes and took a seat next to Lockan and Farkas. Taking the tankard full of water, Vilkas gulped it down like a camel and looked over to Hana that was now sitting down and talking to Kodlak who was smiling at the girl.

He rolled his eyes and turned to look at Farkas who was smiling as well. "The lass was giving you a hard time brother." Farkas laughed.

"Never thought I would have to give up 50 gold to you Farkas." Lockan interrupted and gave a worn leather pouch of gold to Farkas.

"You made a bet?" Vilkas glared at his brother and Lockan.

"Aye, we did. I honestly thought that Hana would stay true to her word." Lockan laughed, "Well it doesn't matter anymore, you won and that's all that matters."

Vilkas smirk only increased as he realised how he able to beat Hana, the sharp tongued dragon had finally got burnt. Lost in thought, he didn't see Hana's figure approach the three men. She ran straight up to Lockan and started screaming with delight. All that Vilkas heard was that she had made it into the Companions.

Vilkas looked over at Kodlak whom was walking past. The old man only smiled at Vilkas before going through the doors. 'Great. Now I have another problem to deal with'

0o0

Hana stumbled down the hall in the living quarters, using the wall as her only support. It hadn't taken much mead to get to her head and her sense of balance. The party was still going on up stairs but she thought it would be best if she called it quits.

She reached the whelps quarters and started stripping off her armour and changed into a slightly bigger tunic and her under garments. Lighting the room with what candles were there, she rummaged through her pack to find a healing potion.

She should have known that Vilkas would beat her during the fight but she did manage to get a few good hits on her. After looking around in her pack for few more seconds, she found a potion and walked over to her bed.

She uncorked the glass red bottles and drank the vile liquid, slowly going down her throat. It took a few minutes for the potion to take effect but when it did, a warm sensation filled Hana and she looked down at her bruises, they started to slowly fade to faint purple. She sighed at the incredible feeling and placed the empty bottle on the desk next to her.

The dizziness from the drinks that she had had started to relieve her from drinking the potion. As she was about to get up to find her book from her bag, there was a loud bang in the hall way outside and groan. Hana giggled to herself and knew exactly who is was. Through the night, her and Farkas were challenged to a drinking competition. Hana, knowing she wouldn't be able to keep up the burly Nord, had only managed 1 tankard of mead while Farkas had already had three.

Her stomach hurt from all the laughing that went on at the party that was still going on upstairs. She had a look through her bag again to try to find her book but lucky wasn't on her side. 'Damn. Must have fallen out.' Hana sighed and closed her bag.

She looked around the room and saw only book near Athis's bed, a Dunmer with bright red eyes, and went over to see what the book was.

As she looked at the cover she quickly placed the book back and tried so hard not to laugh. 'I was hoping never to see a copy of that book. I'm concerned as to why Athis is reading The Lusty Argonian Maid.'

She sighed and looked around more but there were no other books. Farkas had told her that Vilkas had heaps of books in his room that he let Farkas borrow from time to time. As she got to her door and thought back to the party and realised that she had not seen Vilkas up there. After the match that they had earlier in the training yard, Vilkas had just glared at Hana all day until the party and sitting as far away as he can from her. 'Typical Vilkas,' she rolled her eyes and walked over to his room.

She could only just see light bouncing off the stone from under the door. She knocked on the door three times. "Can't a man read in peace! Fine just come in." Vilkas barked from the other side of the door.

Hana Hesitated before she opened the door to see Vilkas having his head stuck in a book. 'Just like old times' she mused.

Vilkas looked up from his book to see Hana.

He raised an eyebrow at the girl "What do you want?" he asked in a sour tone.

"Oh you know, came in here to fight a dragon. I just wanted to ask if I could borrow a book." She mocked.

Vilkas looked over at his shelf, which was full to the brim with books. New books with leather and others slowly wearing away from the years. He looked back at Hana and sighed. "Fine, take a book and get out."

"Is that your attempt at being nice, Vilks?" She teased as she walked over the shelf. He stared at her while she reached for book. He hadn't realised until now that she was hardly wearing any clothes. Just her undergarments under a slightly, big tunic. He tried to look away but couldn't. In the light in his room, he could see through the tunic and see that she had a slight curviness to her. Her hair fell down to her back as she reached for book.

'Control yourself, Vilkas.' He scowled himself as he could feel a slight blush sneaking onto his face. He turned back to look at Hana and saw that she managed to get a book. Tales of the Dragonborn.

"You got your book now get out," he barked at her. "And next time you go walking around in someone else's room, put on decent clothes at least!"

"You shouldn't have been looking." She commented as she walked through the door. She closed the wooden door to hear Vilkas growl at the young woman. She only sighed as she left the door of his room and her way to the whelps quarters.

She couldn't help but think back to when she was young, playing in the streets with the twins. Farkas and her had been closer and were as close as brother and sisters. Vilkas though, had taken some time to warm up to Hana. He always looked at her with an icy glare when he saw her with his brother. She only looked away and continued playing with Farkas.

She had always been intrigued by him and his brother. They were so different in many different ways. Vilkas, only just shorter than Farkas, into literature. Farkas was the exact opposite, playing rough as usual and mucking around, never thinking of consequences until after. Vilkas would always scold his brother if he done anything wrong but he wasn't any better himself.

She remembered that once when they were young, they went up to dragon reach to look over the city. Farkas was leaning over the railing looking at the water. Vilkas had come up to Hana saying that they should try and push Farkas into the icy water beneath. She agreed and the plan succeeded, only be shouted at by her parents when the guards had taken her back to her home.

She laughed at the thought and sat down on her bed. If Vilkas was going to be sour to her then she was just going to ignore it. She opened her book and began reading. Slowly her eyelids got heavier and heavier until she finally fell asleep.